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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27111235">chase your chances</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjokkiri/pseuds/jjokkiri'>jjokkiri</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>X1 (Korea Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Fluff, How Do I Tag, M/M, Miko (The Dog) Deserves Her Own Tag, Post-Break Up</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 06:02:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,250</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27111235</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjokkiri/pseuds/jjokkiri</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Miko drags Seungyoun by her leash to see his ex-boyfriend and Seungyoun has an epiphany.</p><p>It’s kind of pathetic, but he really wants Hangyul back.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cho Seungyeon | Seungyoun/Lee Hangyul</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Blazing Lights</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>chase your chances</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><strong>Prompt #54</strong>—“We broke up but apparently my dog still loves you and we were just taking a casual stroll in the park but I guess she noticed you and ran so fast I lost my grip on the leash and now I have to go retrieve her, but wow, this is awkward.”</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
    <em>“Miko!”</em>
</p><p>
    The surprise nearly knocks the wind out of him.
</p><p>
    Seungyoun barely has the time to react, nor does he have the strength to
    grab Miko’s leash in time before she takes off in a full sprint in a random
    direction. He barely manages to catch the end of her leash before she slips
    entirely out of his grasp. The leash wraps tightly around his wrist, almost
    painfully, and roughly pulls him along as Miko dashes away from the
    direction of the park and towards the sidewalk. Seungyoun stumbles over his
    own feet, chasing after the husky.
</p><p>
    Miko has always been easily excitable. She was always enthusiastic when
heading to the dog park, but Seungyoun has never witnessed her actively run <em>away </em>from the park. For as long as he has raised her, being told
    that they were heading to the dog park meant Miko would bounce to her feet
    and run tiny circles right by the front door, excited to leave the
    apartment.
</p><p>
    The confusion strikes him so hard that he doesn’t know how to react.
</p><p>
    “Miko, where are you going?” Seungyoun shouts after her.
</p><p>
    Although usually obedient (especially when Seungyoun raises his voice at
    her), Miko doesn’t seem to care when Seungyoun shouts after her. She keeps
    running, pulling him behind her. He has to break into a full sprint to
    match her pace.
</p><p>
    <em>Maybe she has been given too many treats, recently, </em>
    he thinks to himself.
</p><p>
    She is just over half his size and she is practically dragging Seungyoun
    behind her with every step. It doesn’t help that she’s running at full
    speed. He wonders how ridiculous they must look to an outsider—a man
    standing over 180 centimeters tall being hauled by his pretty, giant husky.
</p><p>
    In the moment, Seungyoun feels like he almost regrets adopting such a large
    dog, despite how adorable and loving Miko is. He knew she would grow into a
    giant. But she’s just <em>so</em> cute, even when she’s yanking Seungyoun
    along by her leash. Seungyoun thinks he should be ashamed to call himself
    an athlete for being unable to chase after her. Though, with work being so
    busy, Seungyoun reasons that he hasn’t had the chance to do anything
    athletic outside of taking Miko out on her daily walks.
</p><p>
    “Miko,” he calls, desperately. Seungyoun feels like begging his dog to
    stop. He feels like dropping down to his knees and begging her to stop
    running, but he knows that Miko has the strength to drag him flat on his
    face if he stops running after her. He would much rather run until he’s
    winded and terribly out of breath than let Miko drag him against the
    pavement (if only because he knows she’ll feel guilty about it for the rest
    of the week—he knows there aren’t enough snacks in the world to comfort
    Miko whenever she feels guilty about something). He tries again, “Miko,
    slow down!”
</p><p>
    As if by some miracle, Miko skids to a stop.
</p><p>
    It takes Seungyoun a moment to realize that she didn’t stop because he told
    her to. It takes him a long moment to realize that Miko stopped running
    because she finally reached her destination.
</p><p>
    Her excitement is unmatched. She stopped in front of a bench. In the midst
    of his confusion, Seungyoun doesn’t even register the possibility that she
    broke into a sprint because she saw someone she recognized sitting on the
    bench. It feels weird because he hasn’t ever seen her <em>so</em> excited
    about a <em>bench</em>.
</p><p>
    It completely slips his perception that there is a person there.
</p><p>
    Miko’s loud, excited bark snaps him out of his thoughts in time for him to
    catch her standing up on her back legs and placing her paws onto someone’s
    thighs.
</p><p>
    Panic surges in Seungyoun’s chest.
</p><p>
    “Hey!” he scolds, “What are you doing?”
</p><p>
    Miko immediately puts her paws down and turns to look at him, her eyes
    wide. She looks guilty. The look in her eyes yanks at his heartstrings. He
    immediately feels bad for raising his voice at her.
</p><p>
    Seungyoun drops to his knees and tightens her leash with a frown.
</p><p>
    “You can’t just run up to people like that, girl,” he tells her, his voice
    softer. Seungyoun sighs.
</p><p>
    Before he can turn to apologize to the stranger, they speak.
</p><p>
“It’s okay.” It’s a familiar voice that reassures him.    <em>Too familiar. </em>“She’s all good, don’t worry.”
</p><p>
    It’s a warm, familiar voice. It’s a voice that reminds him of late
    afternoons after lectures, curled up on the sofa with hot cocoa and a
    shitty movie playing on the television. It’s a voice that reminds him of
    the warmth of cold, winter nights—cuddled up with a loved one in the middle
    of an unreasonable swath of blankets (and Miko laying across the end of the
    bed).
</p><p>
    <em>
        A voice that reminds him of the feeling of being so in love that every
        word feels comforting.
    </em>
</p><p>
    His imagination runs wild.
</p><p>
    Seungyoun feels something settle in his chest. Something like fear.
</p><p>
    He can’t pinpoint the exact emotion, but he knows it’s a terrifying mixture
    of both fear and hopefulness.
</p><p>
    He doesn’t know why. He doesn’t have the guts to look up and confirm his
    suspicions, afraid of crushing the fragile vision in his mind that the
    person his mind immediately conjures.
</p><p>
    He can’t tell if he wants to be right or wrong.
</p><p>
    Slowly and forcefully against his hesitation, Seungyoun looks up at the
    person sitting on the bench in terror. His eyes are wide as he looks, still
    afraid of confirming his suspicions.
</p><p>
    Fate isn’t on his side, though. And destiny likes to laugh at him in the
    face.
</p><p>
    As soon as he looks up, Seungyoun’s eyes meet with Lee Hangyul’s pretty
    eyes.
</p><p>
    His heart drops. It’s quick—it feels like expecting a feint on a
    rollercoaster and realizing that you’re wrong. It’s the realization that it
    isn’t. It’s steep and it makes you want to scream.
</p><p>
    Seungyoun doesn’t, though. He can’t.
</p><p>
    The world almost seems to freeze around him as the realization settles
    quickly.
</p><p>
    His predictions were right.
</p><p>
    He realizes, at the speed of light, that it isn’t his imagination running
    wild. He realizes that it wasn’t a fragile vision that his mind conjured
    out of hope, it was recognition. It was recognition because, from the
    moment he spoke, Seungyoun should have accepted that there wasn’t an
    alternative outcome to the situation.
</p><p>
    There is just a fact. <em>One.</em>
</p><p>
    And the fact is that Miko dragged him to see his ex-boyfriend.
</p><p>
    “Oh, shit,” he swears under his breath.
</p><p>
    He speaks against his better judgement, but Hangyul doesn’t miss a beat.
</p><p>
    He blinks at him.
</p><p>
    “What are you cussing for?” Hangyul asks. He sounds too calm and Seungyoun
    doesn’t know how he feels about that. “You don’t have to make it obvious
    that you’re not as happy to see me as Miko is.”
</p><p>
    Hangyul raises his eyebrows at him. There are faint traces of an amused
    smile on his lips, well hidden. Hangyul turns his attention from Seungyoun
    to Miko. Something surges in Seungyoun’s gut when Hangyul reaches out for
    Miko’s paws and she immediately jumps to put them in his lap, again.
</p><p>
    Seungyoun instinctively tugs her leash back, but he lets go when he
    realizes that it’s just Hangyul.
</p><p>
    Hangyul has her.
</p><p>
    Miko is familiar with Hangyul. <em>Very familiar.</em>
</p><p>
    He knows how to handle her.
</p><p>
    She excitedly paws at him, barking happily.
</p><p>
    This is a familiar sight to Seungyoun.
</p><p>
    But it isn’t as comfortable as it used to be. This is something that is
    supposed to be familiar to him. Seeing Hangyul play with Miko is something
    that he should be used to—something that doesn’t leave his memories no
    matter how much time has passed. This is something natural.
</p><p>
    He swallows.
</p><p>
    “It’s not that I don’t want to see you,” Seungyoun says. “I was just
    surprised.”
</p><p>
    Hangyul hums, running his fingers through Miko’s white fur.
</p><p>
    For a moment, Seungyoun doesn’t know if Hangyul is listening to him or not.
    He doubts that he is, if only because his attention feels like it’s
    entirely on Miko.
</p><p>
    But Hangyul is listening. He always is.
</p><p>
    “Of course, you were,” he says. He glances at Seungyoun, “Did you forget
    that I still live in this city? Not very far from you? It’s normal to run
    into each other when we live in the same city, you know.”
</p><p>
    <em>It’s normal to run into each other.</em>
</p><p>
    He knows—or at least he hopes—that Hangyul isn’t purposefully jabbing at
    him with his words, but he doesn’t like the implication that it feels like
    he has purposefully been avoiding Hangyul since they broke up. He hasn’t
    been, he doesn’t think. They just haven’t had the chance to see one
    another.
</p><p>
    It would be weird if they suddenly ran into one another everywhere after
    they broke up <em>because</em> of a mutual understanding that they were
    busy and they never had the time to see one another. They broke up because
    Hangyul was busy with his studies and Seungyoun couldn’t clear his schedule
    often enough to see Hangyul. Work was taxing and so was school. It would be
    weird to run into one another constantly after breaking up for that reason.
    But he doesn’t think he has been purposefully avoiding Hangyul.
</p><p>
    It just so happened that they never had the chance to run into one another
    in the past year. It just so happened, even though they live ten minutes
    away from one another (assuming Hangyul hasn’t moved to a different
    apartment building). It just so happened, even though he knows that the
    barista at the café which they always used to frequent together constantly
    mentions that Hangyul always straggles into the café just half an hour
    after he leaves. And it just so happens that it feels like he wakes up
    earlier in the mornings, just so that he can get his coffee before work
    early enough to avoid running into Hangyul because he knows that if he is
    half an hour later, he’ll run into Hangyul at the café (ordering his usual
    dose of too-sweet-coffee).
</p><p>
    It just so happens that it feels ridiculous when it is all laid out in
    front of him like it’s factual.
</p><p>
    Seungyoun’s voice catches in the back of the throat, weighed down with a
    pang of almost unreasonable guilt. There is an unnecessary realization that
    settles in the back of his mind, reminding him that Hangyul is just as
beautiful as he was the last time that they saw one another.    <em>A year ago, when they broke up.</em>
</p><p>
    And he thinks, <em>Shit. Why are you still so pretty?</em>
</p><p>
    “Yeah,” Seungyoun replies, his voice quiet. It’s barely above a squeak and
    he hates himself for sounding so fragile in front of his ex-boyfriend.
    “Yeah, that’s normal.”
</p><p>
    And he wonders if it’s also normal to still be so attracted to his
    ex-boyfriend. He wonders if it’s normal to feel his heart begin to race
    when he looks at the way the crease between Hangyul’s brows softens, when
    he looks at the way that his lips gently curve up.
</p><p>
    Hangyul chuckles when Miko licks his hand. He pets her with a grin.
</p><p>
    It feels nonchalant and he can’t help but wonder if Hangyul can feel the
    weight surrounding him. He wonders if Hangyul can feel the tension that is
    trying to suffocate him.
</p><p>
    Affectionately, Hangyul ruffles her fur and scratches her fur, cooing
    nonsense at her in the way that Seungyoun <em>knows</em> gets her hyper for
    the rest of the night.
</p><p>
    Then, a quiet <em>‘oh’</em> escapes Hangyul’s lips and he looks over at
    Seungyoun.
</p><p>
    “Hey,” he calls. Seungyoun awkwardly avoids his eyes when he hums in
    response.
</p><p>
    “What?”
</p><p>
    Hangyul’s fingers move to the cobalt-coloured collar around Miko’s neck.
    The bright blue contrasts against her fur (<em>“Regal,” </em>Hangyul had
    said with a cheeky smile on his face when he put it on her the first time).
    His fingertips gently brush over the silver nameplate, neatly engraved with
    Miko’s name—they had gotten that done at the mall together. There’s a small
    smile on his lips when he looks at Seungyoun again.
</p><p>
    “She’s still using the collar I gifted her,” he says. It’s a statement more
    than it is a question.
</p><p>
    Seungyoun feels something sink in his gut, something akin to embarrassment.
    He thinks he feels his cheeks heating up. He looks over at Hangyul’s hands.
</p><p>
    “Yeah,” he replies, “she refuses to leave the apartment if she isn’t
    wearing it.”
</p><p>
    He feels flustered admitting it. <em>It’s the truth, though.</em>
</p><p>
    It feels embarrassing to say aloud, but Seungyoun has tried several times
    to take her out on a walk with a different collar around her neck. It never
    worked. Every single time, she had laid down on the floor in front of the
    door, refusing to leave the apartment. She whined until he changed her
    collar to the pretty blue one that Hangyul gifted her (and it took
    Seungyoun <em>forever</em> to figure out why she was whining).
</p><p>
    Hangyul’s smile grows. There’s a fondness in his eyes that Seungyoun
    recognizes too well.
</p><p>
    (He used to look at him like that, too.)
</p><p>
    “Looks like she still needs me,” Hangyul says with a laugh. It’s soft and
    it does something strange to Seungyoun’s heart—it does something strangely
    familiar. Hangyul runs his fingers through Miko’s fur and leans down to
    nuzzle his face against hers. She excitedly licks Hangyul’s cheek.
</p><p>
    Seungyoun feels his heart skip a beat at the sight.
</p><p>
    Suddenly, he feels like he’s trapped. There’s something that rises in his
    chest, warm. It almost feels suffocating. Suddenly, his heart twists in his
    chest and he realizes, <em>I do, too.</em>
</p><p>
    He doesn’t have the guts to say it.
</p><p>
    “Looks like she does,” he mutters. He glances at Hangyul and then quickly,
    he looks away. “She always needs some part of you with her.”
</p><p>
    “She missed me that much?” Hangyul scratches under her chin, again. “That’s
    cute.”
</p><p>
    There is that pang in his chest again.
</p><p>
    Somewhere in the back of his mind, his thoughts gently nudge him and
    whispers, <em>You missed him, too.</em>
</p><p>
    He doesn’t think that Hangyul would think that it’s cute if it was
    Seungyoun who missed him, though. He thinks, if he missed him so much,
    maybe he should have put a little more effort into trying to see Hangyul
    whenever he could. Maybe then, he wouldn’t feel awkward standing in front
    of him now.
</p><p>
    Maybe he would do that if he could travel a year back in time.
</p><p>
    “I guess she did,” Seungyoun replies. He avoids Hangyul’s eyes. He swallows
    the small voice in the back of his throat that threatens to admit he missed
    him too.
</p><p>
    Hangyul’s fingers run through Miko’s fur again and he nuzzles his face
    against hers.
</p><p>
    “Cutie,” he murmurs. “Is that why you ran to me? You missed me so much?”
</p><p>
    Miko licks his face in response, still driven by the excitement of being
    with Hangyul again.
</p><p>
    Seungyoun feels guilt settle in his chest. He takes a breath.
</p><p>
    He wonders if he was the one who caught sight of the younger man first, if
    there was a part of him that would have wanted to run to Hangyul, too.
</p><p>
    Standing in front of him now, Seungyoun thinks that he might have.
</p><p>
    “We were supposed to head to the park,” Seungyoun says, quietly. He doesn’t
    have the guts to look Hangyul in the eyes, so he averts his eyes just
    slightly. He can’t bring himself to look at Hangyul’s pretty face and will
    his heart to calm—not when he’s still so pretty. “It looks like she doesn’t
    want to go anywhere without you, though.”
</p><p>
    Hangyul looks up. His eyes twinkle.
</p><p>
    “Is that an invitation?”
</p><p>
    “An invitation?”
</p><p>
    “It’s okay if it isn’t,” Hangyul replies. He looks back down at Miko with a
    small smile.
</p><p>
    His downcast eyes make him look disappointed but Seungyoun thinks that he’s
    imagining it.
</p><p>
    “Do you want to come with us?” Seungyoun blurts.
</p><p>
    Hangyul looks up, surprised.
</p><p>
    “Sorry?”
</p><p>
    “I mean,” Seungyoun holds his breath. He isn’t ready for the onslaught of
    stammering he feels rising in his chest. He bites down on his lower lip and
    then slowly breathes out through his nose. “It doesn’t look like Miko wants
    to go anywhere now that she’s run into you. I was just wondering if you
wanted to come with us… hold her leash and all, you know?”    <em>Like we used to.</em>
</p><p>
    Hangyul’s eyes glitter with amusement.
</p><p>
    “And what will you do when she wants to come home with me later tonight?”
</p><p>
    Seungyoun falters.
</p><p>
    “I didn’t think that through,” he replies. His mind whispers to him and
    urges him to say,
    <em>
        You could stay over for the night—sneak out later in the night when she
        falls asleep if you have to leave. I could start up some hot chocolate
        and we could talk. We could see where that takes us.
    </em>
</p><p>
    Hangyul stands up from the bench and brushes off his pants. He wraps Miko’s
    leash around the palm of his hand and glances at Seungyoun with a small
    smile.
</p><p>
    “Well,” he says, “maybe we can cross that bridge when we get there, right?”
</p><p>
    Seungyoun watches him carefully. He nods his head.
</p><p>
    “We can,” he mumbles.
</p><p>
    Hangyul grins at him. Then, he surveys their surroundings. He looks back at
    Seungyoun over his shoulder, lips pursed in thought.
</p><p>
    “Where are we headed?” he asks.
</p><p>
    Seungyoun falters.
</p><p>
    “Um,” he starts, “I don’t know. I was just taking her out on her walk and
    she ran to you… I guess you can lead the way to wherever you want to go.
    Miko will be happy to go with you.”
</p><p>
    Hangyul tilts his head, eyes twinkling.
</p><p>
    “She’ll be happy to come with me?” he asks. “What about you? Are you not
    coming?”
</p><p>
    Flustered, Seungyoun flushes.
</p><p>
    “I’m coming!” he says, “She’s <em>my</em> dog!”
</p><p>
    Hangyul laughs. It’s a bright sound that has Seungyoun’s heart skipping a
    beat in his chest.
</p><p>
    “Well,” Hangyul says, “I mean, I was going to go grocery shopping… if
    that’s okay with you.”
</p><p>
    Seungyoun glances down at Miko, who looks more than thrilled to have her
    leash held by Hangyul.
</p><p>
    There’s something that bubbles in Seungyoun’s chest. He thinks <em>he</em>
    might be thrilled to be around Hangyul, too. He thinks he might have really
    missed being around the younger man. They’re allowed to be around one
    another even without the romantic ties—that’s what this reminds him of.
</p><p>
    But the invitation feels so domestic. It feels like a reminder of what they
    used to do together.
</p><p>
    Seungyoun can’t read minds, but he hopes that Hangyul is thinking something
    along the lines of what runs wildly through his mind. He hopes that this is
    an invitation to try again sometime in the future because there are still
    feelings lingering in his heart, whispering to him that he still loves
    Hangyul (as if it’s a secret).
</p><p>
    Hangyul tilts his head, anticipating an answer.
</p><p>
    Seungyoun learns then that he has never been good at saying <em>‘no’</em>
    to Hangyul.
</p><p>
    “We can do that,” Seungyoun replies. “Do you want to go back to my place
    first? I can get my car.”
</p><p>
    Hangyul looks at him, eyes glittering under the gleam of afternoon light.
</p><p>
    “You’d do that for me?” he asks.
</p><p>
    Seungyoun playfully pushes him, rolling his eyes. He hides his smile,
    motioning for Hangyul to follow him.
</p><p>
    “Yeah,” he says, “Let’s go. Miko loves drives.”
</p><p>
He swallows the thought that whispers,    <em>I would still do anything for you.</em>
</p><p>
    Maybe one day, he can say it aloud again.
</p>
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